


don't drown in your sorrows (you should've learned how to swim)

by milkteeth1



Series: Whumptober 2020 [7]
Category: Marble Hornets
Genre: Being Saved, Broken Bones, CPR, Canon Autistic Character, Canon Gay Character, Choking, Drowning, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Vomiting, Water, Yelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:22:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26878900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkteeth1/pseuds/milkteeth1
Summary: Alex almost drowns to death. Set in Pre-MH.
Relationships: Alex Kralie/Jay Merrick
Series: Whumptober 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948756
Kudos: 12





	don't drown in your sorrows (you should've learned how to swim)

**Author's Note:**

> tim and alex have a "are we about to kiss rn 😳" moment

Alex didn’t know how to swim.

It’s a trait he never had to learn, since he grew up in Wyoming, where it was cold all year round. Swimming pools weren’t really a huge thing back there, so he never learned. 

God, he wished he had. 

He had tripped, fallen sideways, and landed straight into the icy cold lake. He was with Jay and Tim, but Jay didn’t do well in emergency situations and he wasn’t sure if Tim knew how to swim either.    
  
When he broke through the surface of the water, his first thought was  _ God, this water is cold _ . It shocked him to his bone, causing him to freeze and sink. No, _ no _ , he didn’t  _ want  _ to sink, he  _ wanted  _ to live. But he didn’t know how. He tried to move, move in the direction that looked like up, but up was down and down was right and he wasn’t sure what direction he was going anyway. 

Oxygen was quickly leaving him, his arms and legs burning as he tried so desperately to break through the surface, but it was becoming too hard and his lungs were screaming at him, his heart pounding in his ears as water rushed into them. Was this it? Was he really about to die? One last attempt to move was futile, his body too tired to keep going. 

He choked, water entering his lungs as it tried to suck more air in, and he coughed, hands coming to pull at his throat. He wasn’t about to die. He  _ wasn’t.  _ Just try, Alex, his mother would say. His mother. His father. What would they say? What would they say about him dying? How would Jay react? Was Jay alright?   
  
Air was trying to get inside of him, and there was no way to expel the water, body finally relaxing and accepting it’s fate. Vision blurring, senses muffling, someone reaching toward him as the world got brighter and 

  
  


“ _Alex_!”    
  
Tim turned just in time to see Alex fall into the water, smiling and starting to laugh at his mistake, but stopped when he saw just how freaked out Jay was getting, hands pulling at his hair.    
  
“What? Does he not know how to swim or something?” Tim said, half joking, watching as the water bubbled and rippled, but no Alex surfaced. His smile slowly faded as he realized that Jay was truly freaking the fuck out, and Alex still hadn’t surfaced. 

He quickly shed his jacket, throwing his phone out of his pocket and jumping into the water, somewhat disoriented but seeing the shadow of another person as he swam forward, quickly breaking the surface for air as he went back under, swimming as fast as he could because he wasn’t sure how long Alex had been in the water and the shadow was starting to move in a futile attempt to escape the water, arms going up to his throat. 

He was almost there. Just a few more strokes, and he’d get Alex. 

_ Finally _ , finally, he saw the collar of Alex’s dumb button up, grabbing the front and quickly resurfacing, dragging his lifeless ( _ don’t think like that _ ) body across the water, shivering in the cold Alabama air as he dragged him up the embankment, laying him on his back. 

“Go, run!” Tim shouted at Jay, who looked like he was going to cry. “Go get help!”    
  
Jay turned on his heel and ran back to the front of the park as fast as his Walmart sneakers could take him. 

“C’mon, Alex, I really don’t wanna kiss you,” Tim said, pressing his ear against his chest. 

Nothing.

He cursed under his breath, starting compressions. 30/2, wasn’t it? Thirty chest compressions, 2 breaths? He almost stopped when he heard a distinct  _ pop _ (Alex’s ribs breaking), but then he remembered that when he was taught CPR that breaking ribs was pretty protocol.    
  
He was counting in his head. He hesitated, just for a moment, before clamping Alex’s nose and breathing into his mouth (fucking gross!) twice, spitting next to him when he was done, starting compressions once more.    
  
And then Alex was coughing, eyes shooting open as he sputtered, Tim quickly turning him to his side and letting him vomit out the water he had ingested, retching horribly. He breathed a sigh of relief, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet; the water could’ve gotten in his lungs. 

Alex stopped vomiting, coughing like a sick man, laying on his back as he gasped for air.    
  
“Hey,” Tim said, pushing him slightly. “You’re alright now, you’re out of the water. You want my jacket? I’m sure you’re freezing,”

Alex didn’t move. Tim was afraid he had died for a moment before he was trying to speak, wet hand reaching for his. 

“What...what the fuck?”   
  
For some reason, this made Tim burst into laughter, and slowly, Alex joined him, laughter shallow and breathy, but at least there was air getting into his lungs and he was smiling. He coughed again, hand going to his chest.   
  
“Jesus, my chest hurts,” he said. “Did you break my rib or something?”   


“Yeah, had too,” he replied. “You’re always gonna break ribs when you have to do CPR,”

Alex coughed again, hand pressing into his side. “Where’s Jay?”   
  
“I told him to get help. Let’s get you back to the car, you need to go to the hospital. You could have fluid in your lungs or something,”   
  
Alex groaned, but he let Tim get him into a bridal style position, setting his coat ontop of him to try and get him warmer, placing the phone in the dry pocket of his jacket, starting to walk down the trail. 

Jay suddenly skidded into view, hands shaking and tears swimming in his eyes as he looked at Alex.    
  
“Hey! Hey, I’m alright,” Alex said, reaching a wet hand out to place it on Jay’s cheek. He grabbed it, looking at Tim, who nodded at him. Jay suddenly wapped Alex on top of the head, yelling.    
  
“Why didn’t you tell Tim you couldn’t swim? You could’ve died! You should’ve been more careful!”    
  
“Hey, hey! Man just drowned, let’s not yell!” Tim shouted back, and Jay backed down, obviously angry but didn’t say anything else, because Tim was intimidating and Alex was giving him a pleading look to stop. Jay wasn’t actually angry, he knew that, just worried, and expressed it in the wrong way.

“You know,” Alex said, shivering. “Your sweater is super warm,”

“Yeah?” Tim responded, glancing at Jay, who was staring at the ground ahead of him. “You didn’t find anyone?”   
  
“No. Which is weird, because it’s noon,” Jay added, walking a bit ahead to look at Alex. “You’re alright?”   
  
“Should be. Tim said I had to go to the hospital because I could have fluid in my lungs,”

  
Jay nodded, and they were silent for the rest of the walk. 

  
They ended up finding a shit ton of lake water in Alex’s lungs, so they did a weird procedure to get it out (Tim forgot what it was called), then told him that he’d get sick in a few days due to how cold the water was, and to pay attention to any breathing issues.   
  
Alex ended up getting the flu not two days later, but overall, was fine. 

**Author's Note:**

> do y'all want more jam because you ate the shit out of the other one too


End file.
